Another way to think about this which may be useful to answerers is, "What does literature expert mean for this site?"
– BESWJan 24 '17 at 1:55

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I believe that to focus on literature is to include literary analysis, but to focus on literary analysis is to exclude much of literature.
– BenjaminJan 24 '17 at 1:57

@BESW - if you can figure out a neat way to edit that into the question, please feel free to. Totally agree with that angle.
– DVKJan 24 '17 at 2:01

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@Benjamin Flesh that comment out a bit and it could make a good answer.
– Rand al'Thor♦Jan 24 '17 at 2:04

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I hope a well-reasoned contrary answer is posted as well, so people can choose.
– DVKJan 24 '17 at 2:26

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It's also worth noting that the definition that starts in Area 51 does not necessary continue through, or stay consistent during, private beta. We're under no obligation to remain loyal to the Area 51 vision.
– user80Jan 24 '17 at 2:45

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I'm a little bit confused by what the difference is between Literature and Literature Analysis. Literature Analysis just means studying literature to find out what it means.
– user111Jan 24 '17 at 4:14

2 Answers
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This is an issue of whether to be inclusive or to be exclusive, because in my view to focus on literature is to include literary analysis, but to focus on literary analysis is to exclude much of literature. I believe that based off of the questions we have. and it is my belief that is what should define us: not the stated will of the people, but rather their actions. It makes the most sense that we include all literature as our scope with literary analysis as the kernel at the center.

Be as inclusive as possible

I think that we need to be as inclusive as possible, if only to attract a good number of visitors to the site. If we made it exclusively about literary analysis, the site might quickly fold.

However, being inclusive inevitably raises the question "what constitutes literature?" Everyone will have their own answer to this. If the site becomes flooded with low-value questions, we may decide as a community to exclude certain genres and types of questions. For example, basic questions about science fiction and fantasy works can be migrated to SFF.SE.

One big problem with having too much inclusivity is that it may deter real experts in literary analysis from contributing to the site, especially if they see a lot of questions about graphic novels and manga comics. We may be able to counter this with intelligent (and consistent) tagging. For example, analysis questions about Dickens should be tagged with literary-analysis, classics and charles-dickens. Experts can then zoom in on their own fields. Another draw may be to set plenty of bounties on high-value questions.